I'm Coming Home
by supercomsandeggos
Summary: A Mileven reunion fic. A year after her disappearance, Eleven returns cold and tired outside of Will's house. Recognizing the girl his friends had talked endlessly about, he takes her inside and calls up the boys for a long awaited reunion.
1. Chapter 1

Will Byers sat in his bed, desk lamp on and comic book in hand. He had gotten back from another 10 hour Dungeons and Dragons campaign with his friends. A few days ago had marked the dreaded night when Will had been taken to the hellish Upside Down by the Demogorgon. The boy would never forget those long, nightmare-filled days of being trapped and hiding for his life. He _couldn't_ forget no matter how hard he tried.

He focused on his comic book, the new X-men issue he won from Dustin after another bike race, when he heard a noise that pierced his ears and sent chills down his spine. It sounded like an echoing scream followed by a loud boom.

Will's eyes shifted back and forth in his room. He ran over to his window and glanced outside, Castle Byers could barely be seen with all the trees surrounding it. Swallowing the lump in his throat, the 13 year old grabbed a small baseball bat from under his bed and quietly snuck outside, not wanting to wake Jonathan or Joyce.

His heart began to beat against his chest as he thought of all the scenarios that could happen. What if the Demogorgon was back? What if it was a more terrifying monster? Would it drag him back to the Upside Down?

Will approached Castle Byers, baseball bat gripped tightly in his hand, ready to fight off anything that was in there. He took a deep breath and pushed back the sheet to the entrance of the fortress. What he saw in there made him drop his weapon in shock.

There lay Eleven. Curled up on the ground, shivering violently and blood running down her nose. Her skin was pale and her hair had grown out, small twigs and leaves tangled in her short, brown locks.

"Oh my gosh," Will spoke softly and kneeled down by the girl. "Are you okay? You're El right?"

El opened her eyes and glanced over at the person hovering over her. She recognized Will, although having never officially met him. But he was friends with the boys so she immediately trusted him.

"Will..." her voice barely audible over her chattering teeth.

Without waiting a second, Will helped El onto her feet and guided her back to the house. He turned on the living room lights, sat El on the couch and yelled for his mom and brother.

"Mom! Jonathan!"

The rest of the Byers family entered the living room almost instantly, wondering if Will had been hurt or something else horrible happened. Both noticed the freezing girl on the couch peering up at them with a frightened expression.

"Jonathan, get her some blankets now!" Joyce ordered.

While Jonathan raced back to his room, Will watched his mother curiously as she comforted El, as if she was her own child. Joyce wiped away the tears on the girl's face and wrapped her into a tight hug, saying how she deeply missed her after all these months. Jonathan came back with 3 blankets and a pillow, and bundled up El who thanked him and nestled into the soft material.

Eleven looked at Will. "Are Mike, Dustin and Lucas okay?" she asked.

"Yeah the guys are just fine!" Will chirped. "They're gonna be so thrilled to see you, especially Mike. I know he missed you the most."

With the color returning to El's face, a faint blush could be seen upon her cheeks. After all this time, Mike hadn't forgotten about her. He missed her! She hoped that he wouldn't be mad that she broke her promise to the snowball.

"Hey are you hungry?" Jonathan's question broke El out of her thoughts. "I can make you something if you want."

"Eggos?" she smiled hopefully.

Jonathan returned the smile and headed towards the kitchen to grab the waffles out of the freezer. Will took this opportunity to head back towards his room and call up the rest of the boys.

He turned to channel 6 and spoke. "Mike! This is Will, do you copy?"

Static came out the other end for awhile until Mike returned the call.

"Will? What's wrong?" he wondered. His voice concerning.

"Listen, call Dustin and Lucas and get over here now!" he spoke frantically.

"Will, it's getting late. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"No, you don't understand!" he groaned. There was only one way to get him to haul ass over here. "The girl you guys told me about, El, she's here! She came back!"

There was a sound of a drop and retreating footsteps before more static came out of the other end. Will tried to get ahold of Mike once more, but couldn't get a response. He sighed and returned back to the living room and took a seat next to El.

"Where have you been all this time?" he smiled and spoke quietly as to not frighten her.

El just shook her head and closed her eyes. "Bad," she whispered.

Will just nodded in response. He didn't want to pressure her into answers if she wasn't comfortable to talk. Jonathan returned from the kitchen with a plate full of Eggos and Eleven's eyes widened in hunger. She had eaten plenty of them while trapped in the Upside Down, but most of the waffles were still frozen or cold and didn't taste nearly as good when they were fresh out of the toaster. The brothers watched El in amusement as she tore away at the waffles in front of her, and Joyce informed the three of them that Hopper was on his way over.

 **. . .**

The chief arrived almost as soon as he was called. He rushed in the Byers' household and froze when he saw Eleven, still wrapped up in many blankets on the sofa. She looked up at him with that same focused look, trying to understand what he was feeling. Hopper chuckled and bent down to her eye level.

"You are one tough kid you know that?" he praised. "You get those Eggos I sent you?"

"That was you?" she asked, a surprised expression lit up her face.

The chief nodded and his smile slowly faded. "I, uh, I'm sorry you had to go through all that. The lab and everything."

"Thank you," she told him. El let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. Jonathan moved from his spot on the couch so she could have a place to lay down. She wondered about Mike and the others, where they were and when she would see them again. With an exhausted sigh, she shut her eyes and was finally allowed to rest without being tangled in vines and mold.

 **. . .**

There was a rapid knock at the door a few moments later and Will rose up from his spot on the floor to answer it. Outside stood Mike, Dustin and Lucas, all in their pajamas and hopeful looks on their faces.

"Where is she?" Mike asked, out of breath.

"She's inside, asleep," Will smiled and let them in the house.

The boys rushed into the living room and Mike froze in place. There he saw her, sleeping peacefully on the sofa, short wavy bangs covered her eyes. Dustin let a 'holy shit' escape his lips but Mike wasn't listening. He felt like his legs would give out as he made his way towards her.

He knelt by the couch, his eyes stung as he looked at her. Mike felt a bit nervous, given that everyone was watching them, waiting for a reunion. Hesitantly he lifted a hand and gently brushed back the hair that was covering her eyes.

"El?" he whispered in a tearful smile.

The girl's brown eyes fluttered open and she turned her head to look up at Mike who showed off that goofy grin of his. El sat up on the couch, many emotions clouded her mind. Happiness, guilt, sadness. She reached out to touch his shoulder to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. He was wearing one of his many striped shirts and pajama pants.

"Mike," she croaked before cracking a huge smile.

' _This is real. She's real'_ Mike thought as he held her close in a loving hug, never wanting to let her go again. One by one the other boys crowded around the couple, creating a giant group hug. Afterwards, Lucas and Dustin began hounding El with questions and comments about her disappearance.

"Where have you been all this time? We missed you!"

"You have hair now!"

"Were you in the Upside Down?"

"What happened to the monster?"

Eleven's eyes darted back and forth between the two until Mike snapped at them to chill out. Will explained how he had found her inside Castle Byers and Mike apologized to El, wishing they could've found her sooner.

"It's not your fault," she looked at the group. She pointed to herself and said "No energy."

"You didn't have enough energy to open another gate?" Lucas asked, trying to get a sense of understanding. "That's why you were gone for so long?"

Eleven nodded and Dustin ruffled her messy hair in response. "Well, all that matters is you're back now and we've got a lot of catching up to do!"

The kids continued to laugh and fill in Eleven on the small adventures she had missed out on. Will got a chance to thank her for helping rescue him from the Upside Down, and promised to make it up to her somehow. Jonathan joined in the conversation and made a mental note to create El a mixtape to introduce her to music. El wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night with her friends, listening to their stories while she held Mike's hand, but her drooping eyelids and continuous yawns told herself otherwise.

"Guys, it's getting pretty late," Lucas sighed and glanced at the clock which read 1:45.

"What?!" Dustin cried out. "But we just got started!"

"Yeah, why don't we all just spend the night?" Mike suggested.

"Well we _could,_ " Lucas started. "But what part of 'we snuck out without our parents noticing' do you not understand?"

Mike stayed silent as he quickly went over his options. On one hand he wanted to stay by El's side, letting her fall asleep on his arm while he calmly ran his fingers through her hair. But on the other hand, he wasn't sure how he would explain his sneaking out to his parents. _'I'm sorry, but this girl I like just returned after a year of being gone'_.

"Think about it, Mike," Lucas attempted to get through to his friend. "If your parents find out, if any of our parents find out, we'll be grounded for god knows how long."

"And that means we won't be able to see El for awhile longer," Dustin sighed as he realized the consequences.

"Exactly," Lucas folded his arms.

"Yeah, I guess," Mike sighed in defeat. "Let's head back before our parents notice we're gone."

Hopper appeared in the doorway from the kitchen and put on his hat. "Put your bikes in the back of the truck, I'll drive you kids home."

"Thank you, Sir," Dustin smiled politely.

"You're leaving?" El looked up at them with sad eyes.

"If we don't get back soon, we'll get in big trouble, El," Lucas explained calmly. "But we'll be back tomorrow!"

"Yeah, first thing tomorrow." Mike smiled. "We'll come right over and we can all have breakfast together!"

"Promise?" she uttered and their eyes met.

"Promise," Mike nodded. He took in a deep breath and quickly kissed her on the cheek before leaving his spot by her side. Eleven gasped softly and smiled as she softly touched the spot Mike had kissed.

Almost instantly, he caught teasing from Lucas and Dustin. The boys batted their eyelashes at him while making kissing noises. Mike just kept his eyes looking forward and tried to hide his cherry-red face as he stalked out the door.

"Shut up and let's go!" he barked.

 **. . .**

After Hopper and the boys left, Will brought out an extra pillow for El to sleep on. Joyce told her to wake any of them if she needed anything and Eleven politely thanked all of them. The rest of family went to their rooms for a decent nights rest and Eleven positioned herself comfortably on the couch. She was out like a light, dreaming of all the things she would learn and all the shenanigans she and her friends would get into.

She smiled and allowed her muscles to relax, a great feeling she hadn't felt in a long while. But now, there were no monsters, no Upside Down, and no bad men. Just warmth, friends and family, and eggos.


	2. Chapter 2

Mike Wheeler's eyes snapped open at the sound of his alarm clock. Instantly, he jumped out of bed, tripping over his covers and racing towards the bathroom to get cleaned up. Today would be an exciting day, as Eleven had returned from her year long absence of being in the Upside Down. The previous night had been a wild one as well. Will had called up the boys on his Supercom, informing them that she had appeared in Castle Byers, and they all set out on their bikes to reunite with their long lost friend. Mike had never felt such a mixture of pure joy and reassurance in all of his 13 year old life.

The reunion had been an emotional yet heartwarming one. El had fallen asleep on the Byers' couch and Mike approached her cautiously, as if one false move and she would be gone forever. Her hair had grown out a bit, replacing the buzzcut she once had with a short, dark brown mop of wavy locks that nearly covered her eyes and curled around her ears. As she awoke, El had hoped that seeing Mike in front of her again wasn't just an illusion, but the comforting hug he had given her erased all of her doubts. The reunion was short lived however, because the boys snuck out and had to get back to their homes before their parents found them missing.

Before they all left, they promised El they would come by first thing in the morning to have breakfast. And that's how Mike found himself, showered and already dressed, waiting for his parents to wake up so he could get permission to ride over to Will's house. He sat on the couch in the living room, leg bouncing up and down excitedly and impatiently. His head turned towards the stairs as he heard the morning cries of his baby sister, Holly, and knew that his mother would be down at any moment.

He had been correct. Karen Wheeler sauntered downstairs in her night gown, a fussy Holly at her side, and Mike bolted up from the couch.

"Mom, may I please go over to to Will's house for breakfast?" he pleaded. "He said his mom is okay with it and Dustin and Lucas will be there also."

Karen had been a bit surprised at her son's hyperactive temper this early in the morning, but after a brief explanation that he and the boys had to start planning their next campaign right away, she gave in and allowed Mike to go over to the Byers' house.

The boy cheered and thanked his mother as he raced out the door, hopping on his bike and peddling as fast as his legs could go. He couldn't hide the excitement on his face and even began to laugh a bit as he rode, El was back and he couldn't be happier. After they ate, he hoped there would be time for just the two of them to hang out so he could tell El how he felt.

As he came upon the path to Mirkwood, Mike skidded to a stop. Ever since last year's events with the Demogorgon, the boys had been very cautious whenever they approached this road. The boy was about to start heading the other way when he heard two familiar voices call his name.

"Hey, Mike!" Lucas called out on his bike, Dustin riding by his side. "We were just on our way to Will's house. Glad we caught up with you!"

"Yeah," Dustin snickered. "We figured you'd be the first one up to see El."

"I was," Mike shrugged.

"Then why'd you stop here?" Lucas asked.

Mike sighed and looked back at Mirkwood. "Well…"

"You didn't want to go through Mirkwood alone?" Dustin guessed. "Because of what happened to Will?"

Shame and embarrassment clouded Mike's eyes as he nodded meekly. "I know the Demogorgon's dead, I'm just nervous that something else might come back here."

Dustin shifted his position on his bike, left foot placed firmly on the pedal. "Well how 'bout we all ride together?" he suggested. "Any monsters we face, we can just run over 'em!"

Mike laughed at Dustin's nonchalant attitude as they sped down the pathway. Fortunately, luck was on their side that morning and they made it to the Byers' home without a scratch. The boys left their bikes in the front yard and knocked on the door. Will answered after a moment and let his friends inside.

Jonathan and Joyce were already making breakfast when the boys walked in, and Mike heard the strains of a conversation in the kitchen. As Will lead them down the hallway the voices became louder and clearer. As they rounded the corner and entered the kitchen, he saw her. Eleven. She was smiling her beautiful, hesitant smile at something Jonathan had said. Mikes heart began racing at the sight of her. She ran towards her group of friends, nearly tackling them into a group thin arms engulfed the boys and she held them close. After what seemed to be both a million years and simultaneously only a moment, Eleven let go of them and stepped back. "Friends", she whispered with tears glistening in her eyes.

Shortly after breakfast (which had been eggs, toast and bacon, followed by lots of eggos), the group of kids sat in the living room, setting up the Atari that Will had gotten for Christmas a year ago. Mike hadn't been paying attention though. He fumbled with his hands as he sat next to El, trying to create an excuse so the two of them could be alone. Taking a deep breath, he took ahold of El's hand, capturing her attention. He chuckled to himself, remembering how soft her hands felt in his.

"Hey, El," he began. "Do you, maybe want to...go for a walk outside?"

"Right now?" she wondered.

Mike gave her a nod. "Sure! I mean, if you want to."

Eleven smiled eagerly and held Mike's hand tighter as she led him to the back door. Lucas and Dustin noticed and tried to follow them.

"Hey, where you going?" Dustin asked. "Will just brought out Pac-Man!"

"Walk," Eleven said bluntly and pointed toward the door.

"Without us?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"Guys…" Mike groaned under his breath. He glanced sharply over at Eleven and back at them, giving them a clarification that the two needed time to themselves.

Both of the boys shrugged in return. "Hey if you wanted alone time all you had to do was ask," Dustin grinned. It wasn't really a surprise to them anyway. All the boys knew Mike and El had an unbreakable connection, poor Wheeler made it too obvious; the way he would fumble with his hands and slip on his words, the pink glow in his cheeks that would appear whenever she said his name, and his determination to find her after her disappearance.

Mike and El ambled through the backyard and into the deeper woods of the area. Mike led the way, knowing of a small clearing that he and his friends often played in as children. For the first few moments, the couple was silent. The past day had felt like some strange and cruel dream, no different from many of the recurring dreams he'd had in the past year. But now, standing silently as the cool evening wind brushed across his face and pushed the hair out of his eyes and feeling her warm palm that fit in his perfectly, he realized. She was here. It wasn't a dream. Eleven was here with him, smiling and breathing and laughing and so wonderfully real. Mike's thoughts were racing at an overwhelming rate. 'What do I say to her?' he mentally yelled. 'Come on, Wheeler! This is El you're talking about. Whatever comes out of your mouth will be fine.'

He kept making rapid glances at her. She was wearing some of Will's clothes; a Star Wars t-shirt and sweatpants. She had grown a bit taller and lengthier, but she still fell short when it came to the boys. And her hair...

"Your hair looks pretty," he complimented.

El beamed and brushed her short bangs out of her eyes. "Thank you." She wanted to say something nice back, so she studied his features carefully. He still had the same classic black mop of hair and the freckles that decorated his face, but there was something different about him. "You're taller," she realized out loud.

Mike chuckled and straightened up, proud of his development over the past few months. "Yep! I'm almost taller than my sister!" he boasted.

When they made it to the clearing, Mike led El over near a giant oak tree where they sat underneath, stretching their legs. In any of the spring and summer months, Mike would stroll over to the small pond and try to search for any fish. But he knew if he tried that now, he'd most likely catch hypothermia as soon as his fingertips touched the water. Inhaling the autumn air, Mike smiled as he observed El beside him, she was focused on cattails that resided in the pond ahead, the gentle wind pushing them back and forth.

"Have you ever seen nature?" Mike interrupted the silence. "Y'know, before we even met you?"

El shook her head and Mike frowned. "Not like this, not in the lab," she answered. "The Upside Down was...different. It was dark and slimy."

Mike attempted to lighten the mood. "Well just wait until December comes around! All the snow you will see, it's like a giant, white blanket!"

El's eyes suddenly widened and she gasped. "Mike," she grabbed his arm desperately. "Snowball."

"Um, yeah, what about it?"

El looked grief-stricken. "I...I missed it. I broke my promise."

Mike sat up and cradled El's hands in his. "Hey, it's okay, El! We can always go next month, it's no trouble."

Eleven looked into his eyes. They were full of concern, not a drop of anger to be seen. She felt a huge weight be lifted away from her and she visibly relaxed. "What did you do?" she wondered. "When I was gone?"

Mike tensed up. "Oh…" he said. "I tried looking for you, all of us did. And after a few months, we just, we had to stop."

"And the Snowball?" she questioned.

"I just stayed at home," Mike shrugged and glared at the ground.

Granted that had been the truth, but there was more to it than just 'staying at home'. Mike hadn't talked to anyone that morning, and didn't exit his room until the late afternoon. When Dustin, Will and Lucas came over, he tried his very best to put on a smile for them, but even they could see past his act. After they left, that's when he fully broke down. He sat in her blanket fort that night, clutching the yellow Benny's t-shirt she wore when they first met in his arms, and wept, rocking back and forth as tears streamed down his face and he trembled like a leaf in a tornado and sobbed himself to sleep.

Nancy had heard his sobs coming from the basement when she entered the kitchen and she almost started to cry herself. It always tore her apart to see her little brother so upset. Even when they were younger and she would steal his toys to mess with him, she immediately surrendered when she saw his eyes well up with tears. Mike could be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he didn't deserve to go through all this pain.

"Mike," El began, feeling the warmth of his hands and blinking away a few tears. "I'm sorry I left."

The boy brushed his thumb over her knuckles and smiled softly. "I know you are, El. It's okay."

"No it's not," El croaked, her voice becoming shaky. "Will told me how hard you looked for me, how you got sick from being outside one night. It was because of me." Her face was streaming with tears.

Mike looked on in sorrow, hands still holding El's and his eyes started to sting. He remembered that cold, February night; a few days before Valentine's Day. He stalked out of his house that evening, shortly after the boys' D&D campaign, flashlight and Supercom in hand. For three hours he was out there, calling her name as the winter cold set in and his skin became numb with cold and he became frozen and pale. He rode back to his house after his flashlight ran out of battery and when he got home he allowed his emotional numbness ignite into a bonfire of anger and hatred towards the world and himself, but when he woke up in the morning, he felt a lot worse; sniffling, coughing and sweating. His mother believed his sickness to be a result of the flu virus that was going around his school but, the only ones he told about the true cause of his illness were Nancy and his friends.

The boy wiped away the flowing tears on El's cheeks and wrapped her up into a hug, rubbing her back as she sobbed into his shoulder. "None of that is on you, El," he whispered into her ear. "You left because you had to, I understand. If you hadn't stopped the Demogorgon, Will wouldn't be here, Lucas and Dustin wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't be here. You saved our lives by nearly giving up your own, and if that's not true friendship, then I don't know what is."

El's breathing had calmed down and Mike continued. "I just want you to know that I was never angry with you," he disclosed. "Yes, it hurt when you left, but you're back now and you don't know how happy this makes me. I missed you, El. I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too," El whimpered into his shirt.

Mike broke the hug, still gently holding her hands and staring into her soft, brown eyes. "Can you just promise me something, El?" Mike asked with a sniffle.

Eleven nodded her head. "Yes."

"Promise you won't go away again," he pleaded. "Promise you will always be with me?"

El smiled tearfully and giggled. "I'll always be with you, Mike. I promise."

Mike returned the smile and took a breather to admire her face. Soon he felt a wave of déjà vu wash over him as the two were leaning in closer, never breaking eye contact. Mike knew there was no backing out now and he closed his eyes as Eleven tilted her head up to meet his lips. Their faces were sticky with tears and Mike slightly bumped his head against hers when they both leaned in, but it was perfect. Imperfectly perfect, just like them It was a small kiss, but it meant the world to them both, smiling contently as they rested their foreheads together.

"You want to start heading back now?" Mike wondered after a moment. El nodded and he stood, offering his hand to help her up. They walked back on the same path, hand in hand, smiling as the sun began to rise higher into the sky. Before they returned to the rest of the group, El stopped Mike outside the door, trying to collect the right words for the question in her mind.

"Mike, could I go home with you later?" she looked at him, still gripping onto his hand.

"Sure, El!" Mike tried not to sound too cheerful, failing immensely. "The guys were going to come over sometime today anyway."

"Cool," El replied with a grin. Truth be told, she deeply missed being in the basement at Mike's place. It was truly the first place she considered a real home. She wondered if the basement had changed at all since she had been gone. The couch with the unremovable pizza stain from the many D&D parties, the small television with video tapes scattered around, and her beloved blanket fort.

The kids returned to the living room, still holding hands, and the rest of the boys eyed them teasingly. Will noticed that Mike and Eleven were holding hands when they returned to the living room, he smiled softly at them. "You guys are cute together." he whispered to Mike as he handed him the controller, "You look happy when you're with her."

"Well, you two sure took your sweet time," Lucas chimed, looking away from the television. Mike just rolled his eyes and he and El sat near the end of the couch.

Dustin glanced at El " El...what was it like in the Upside Down?"

"Dustin!" Mike fumed. He knew that El didn't like to talk about her traumatized past, if she felt like talking at all. Anything to do with the lab, Papa and the bad men, and the Upside Down were sensitive subjects for her.

"Hey, she doesn't have to talk about it if she doesn't want to!" Dustin held his hands up in defense. "I'm just curious."

"I am too," Lucas joined in. Will shut off the video game and turned around as well, so they formed a misshapen circle, and looked sympathetically at Eleven

"Guys," Mike began. El put a hand on his knee and smiled. "Mike, it's okay," she spoke.

"Are you sure?"

Eleven nodded and took a deep breath.

Mike placed his hand on top of hers, gently running his thumb over her knuckles. "Okay. What was it like then?"

El closed her eyes. "Cold, dark and scary," she stated. "Worse than the lab."

"Was it hard to breathe?" Will questioned. "Did your chest ever tighten up and your head started to hurt?"

"Yes," El responded.

Will looked at the others. "That's what it was like when I was there. I felt like I was suffocating."

"But the Demogorgon's dead. Right, El?" Dustin wondered, his voice a little hesitant.

"No more," El confirmed and all the boys let out a sigh of relief.

Shortly after a few more hours of video games, the kids decided to retreat to Mike's house so they could continue with their Dungeons and Dragons campaign. They all left the Byers' home, Will promised his mom that he'd be home before sundown, and hopped on their bikes. Mike smiled contently as they rode down the streets, El's arms hooked around his waist. He missed the feel of her as she sat behind him.

After explaining to Mrs. Wheeler that El was a good friend of the boys who had been away for awhile, Mike remembered the blanket fort he had rebuilt the previous night. After returning from Will's house, the boy quietly entered the basement, trying not to wake up the rest of his family. Before he crept back upstairs to head to his bedroom, Mike unfolded a bunch of quilts and placed them over a few chairs, just as he did a year ago. After learning that El was back for good, he realized it was only a matter of time before she would visit her surrogate home once again and he wanted her to feel as safe and comfortable as possible.

"El," Mike whispered, covering her eyes with his hands. "Follow my voice, I have a surprise for you."

"Okay," El complied, holding onto his wrists as he led her down the basement steps. When Mike removed his hands from her face, her eyes twinkled in wonder at the sight of her cherished fort. "Still here?" El asked, gazing in awe. "All this time?"

Mike rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I kept it up for a few months after you left, but my mom had me take it down eventually. But once I knew you were back, I rebuilt it because I figured you felt safe there. Kinda like home, y'know?"

Eleven responded by giving Mike an enthusiastic hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and nestling into his chest. "Thank you, Mike," she beamed.

The boy immediately closed the hug, savoring the loving embrace for as long as he could. As soon as the others had followed them from upstairs, the couple broke the hug and El decided to crawl into the fort. It was exactly as she remembered, whatever she could remember. Mike's yellow sleeping bag, the small night light that would somehow calm her terrors of the dark, and the colorful patterns on the sheets that her eyes would follow until they became heavy with sleep.

"Hey, El!" Dustin called from the table. "Don't go to bed now, we haven't even started playing Dungeons and Dragons yet!"

"Does she even know how to play?" Lucas asked.

"Maybe not," Mike concluded. "But we can show her!"

Eleven turned out to be a fast learner. The boys introduced her to this new world filled with elves, knights, princesses, and goblins, danger at every turn (and every roll of the dice) and a new story to be told every campaign. After getting her character setup, she had chosen the elf because it looked cool, Mike and the others had helped El throughout her first campaign. They showed her different kinds of spells and attacks, how the dice worked in the game, and how to rank up in levels.

El tried her best to keep up with the game, and the boys would help her anytime she got stuck. Dustin informed her about which weapons to use and when, Will taught her about spells and potions, and Lucas showed her all sorts of defense tactics. Mike smiled as he read aloud from his Dungeon Master's handbook, putting on a show with his narratives.

"You cross the broken moat and head towards the entrance of the castle, when a pack of level 13 trolls block your path. They want all of your weapons and won't take no for an answer," he told. "El, your action? You can roll the dice to see if your attack goes through or you can run, jeopardizing your weapons."

"Attack," El responded in a serious tone.

"Roll to see if you hit!" Lucas said excitingly. "You need a 10 or higher."

Eleven cupped the pair of dice in her hands and dropped them on the table. She rolled a 6 and a 7, securing her attack on the threat blocking her path. The boys cheered as she obtained the treasures within the castle and claimed victory. She proved to be a great addition to the party, defending those in need and taking on all obstacles in her way.

"El, your character is such a badass!" Dustin praised.

Eleven laughed when she saw him giggle, but still didn't understand the word. "Badass?" she raised an eyebrow.

"It means like a really cool person," Lucas explained. "Your character is really tough and amazing!"

"Oh," El nodded in understanding. She liked the word and she repeated it with a grin. "Badass."

Mike couldn't help but mirror her smile. He glanced down at his book, recalling all the times he had seen El's face brighten up. The very first time was when he introduced her to his father's Lay-Z-Boy, the day after he found her in the woods. She had been a bit startled at the chair leaning back, but once he showed her that she was safe, El found herself having fun and giggled, showing off a grin. That's when Mike realized he liked to see her smile, it was different from the blank, confused stare he had been accustomed to. Afterwards, he led her back up to his room and showed her his toys, hoping to make her smile or laugh again, but unfortunately, she returned to the blank stare as he did his Yoda impression.

The second time he had seen her smile, cheek to cheek, was when they were looking for Will again. She had asked him how he got the small cut on his chin and Mike shamefully explained his bullying situation. To his surprise, El understood and smiled at him after learning a few new words. That was the moment he realized, Eleven was a pretty cool person. Other times she smiled at him were small, but he cherished them deeply, replaying the moments in his mind repeatedly. After he complimented her on her new look, when she saved him from another beating from Troy, telling her that he was happy she was home, and in the cafeteria, before and after their first kiss.

The nights when he couldn't sleep, whether it had been from bad dreams or just too many thoughts and emotions running all at once, Mike would try and picture El smiling and it made his heart melt. Now that she was back, he would make it a goal to try to get her to smile everyday.

"Mike! Hey, Mike!" Dustin snapped his fingers in the air, breaking the boy's train of thought.

"Hmm?"

"Come on, we gotta finish this campaign!"

Mike shook his head and focused on the page in front of him. "Right! Okay, after a good night's rest you and your party find yourselves walking through a murky swamp…"

. . .

The campaign had ended almost as soon as it began. It was around 9:30 that the boys decided to call it quits for now. Eleven made it perfectly clear that she wasn't leaving anytime soon, sitting cross legged in her fort like an animal guarding its territory. "I'll tell Mom that you're staying over, El!" Will had called out to her as he ran up the stairs. Mike followed his group as they went outside to mount on their bikes.

"I'm telling you, Wheeler, we could enter that D&D tournament at school and El would totally kick ass!" Dustin predicted.

"Dustin, she just started playing the game today," Mike chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm.

"Yes, but with that much potential and good dice rolling skills, she's on her way to becoming an intelligent Elf warrior!" Dustin retorted before turning on the headlights on his bike.

"Whatever you say, man," Mike said in a relaxed manner. "You guys be safe, alright?"

"You got it," Will smiled.

"Later, Mike!" Lucas spoke.

Ever since the events of 1983, the kids would always wish the others to be safe before splitting up. It was one of the many ways they looked out for one another. Mike went back inside and down to the basement, where he found El staring out of the basement window.

"Whatcha looking at, El?" he wondered, sitting down next to her.

"Spots," she tapped her finger on the windowpane. "Pretty, glowing spots."

"Those are stars," Mike sounded a little surprised and saddened. He knew El had been sheltered for the majority of her life, but even in all those years she's never once seen the stars, moon, or even the night sky. Mike's blood boiled at the thought of the bad men. Sure, not every kid on the block was as interested in astronomy and science as much as he and his friends were, but almost any kid he knew had an idea of what stars were.

"I've never noticed them before," El whispered in awe. Mike's inner frustration vanished. She wasn't even sad that she was kept from this wonder. It only increased her curiosity even more. "Can you tell me about them?"

"Of course, El," he beamed. "Stars are these giant spheres of really hot gas and there's thousands upon thousands of them up in the sky. And the sun is also a star; the biggest and brightest of them all. And the smaller ones, like the ones you see right now, you can form pictures from them."

"You can?" El asked.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, they're called constellations."

He tried to remember the ones he had studied in class and from the astronomy book his mother had gotten him for his birthday. Gently, Mike held El's hand as he guided it around the window, pointing to the different constellations.

"That one there is Pisces, he's a fish. This one here is the Big Dipper and right across from it is the Little Dipper," he explained.

"What about that one there?" El squinted her eyes and pointed to the star at the bottom of the Little Dipper.

"That's the North Star," Mike said. "We learned in history that travelers would always use stars for navigation. So if you ever get lost at night, just find that star."

El blinked, still staring up in the sky. She loved to look at these small, amazing spheres of light. She wanted to watch them as she fell asleep. With a soft sigh, she leaned against the wall near the window, stretching her legs. Mike rejoined her on the floor.

"You know how to read and write don't you, El?" Mike asked as she lay her head down on his shoulder.

"Yes," she yawned.

"Oh, good. Then maybe you could come to school with us sometime. Or Ms. Byers and the chief can tutor you. It's basically like normal school except you don't have to deal with all the mouthbreathers," he laughed. Eleven shut her eyes and smiled. Hearing Mike's voice before she drifted off to sleep was more comforting than the sound of her shallow breathing in the Upside Down.

"Keep talking," she mumbled and nestled into the crook of his neck.

"Oh, okay," he stuttered.

Mike pondered for a bit, figuring out what to say. "Oh! For Halloween, Lucas, Dustin, Will, and I dressed up as the Ghostbusters! It was really fun, we got lots of candy," he laughed at the memory and thought of another one. "On the Fourth of July, we went out to the pond to shoot off fireworks. They're these mini rocket things that you shoot up into the sky and they fire off pretty colors," he explained.

"Oh yeah, and this other time," Mike continued. "This other time, our science class went on a nature walk and we had to bring lunches to eat outside and we left them by this picnic area before we started our walk. When we came back, the whole area was surrounded by racoons! These little, furry creatures that look like bandits; I find them cool looking, but others think they're scary and vicious."

Eleven snickered a little as she listened to Mike's stories. She loved it when he would start to ramble or rant about a topic because she got to see this normal side of him, when he wasn't stuttering or acting like a goofball around her. To El, Mike was one of the smartest people she knew, and he was willing to share his knowledge with her, unlike Papa and the bad men who were also smart, but restricted her from knowing too much. At first, when they were still getting to know one another, El felt a tad embarrassed of having to ask what certain objects were or what certain words meant, but Mike had been very gentle and understanding, explaining anything and everything she desired to know.

Mike yawned as he began to grow tired himself. But, forcing his heavy eyelids to remain open for awhile longer, he spoke again. "It's really amazing that you're back, El," he said. "There's so much that we can teach you, and I know for a fact that you'll be able to teach us too."

He glanced down at the girl and found her asleep peacefully at his side. He smiled warmly and brushed the short bangs out of her face, revealing her closed eyelids. He found her hand and held it in his, intertwining their fingers. Softly, he raised the back of her hand to his lips and kissed it gently before shutting his own eyes, letting sleep finally win him over. "Night, El," he breathed, voice barely a whisper. Mike and El slept soundly throughout the night, no nightmares or mouthbreathers to pester them. It felt like they had been blessed by Mr. Sandman himself, awarded with a well deserved rest in the comfort of the basement. It felt like home.


End file.
